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The PDF Association celebrates its members’ public statements
of support
for ISO-standardized PDF technology.

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Twenty Years of Trust: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of PDF/A-1

November 2025 by PDF Association staff

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

This month the PDF industry is celebrating the 20th anniversary of PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005), the publication of which revolutionized digital preservation.

Before this standard, archiving suffered from dependency issues. PDF/A-1, based on a constrained subset of PDF 1.4, mandated self-contained, device-independent documents. These rules ensure that a PDF/A document’s appearance can be reliably maintained over centuries, regardless of viewing software.

Rapidly adopted globally, the principles established in PDF/A-1 persist in later standards like PDF/A-4, which is based on PDF 2.0, the latest ISO standard for PDF.

Happy 20th, PDF/A! We (ok, not us personally) fully expect to be celebrating your 200th anniversary in November 2225!

My takeaways from the EDC 2019 in Seattle

June 2019 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
Article


Dietrich von Seggern from callas software is just back from Electronic Document Conference (EDC) in Seattle. His short summary: It was a very good event and he is happy that … Read more

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June 2019 by Roman Toda
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For the two most common web formats – HTML and PDF – the relationship hasn’t been easy. Whenever PDF is … Read more

PDF Association news

June 2019 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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The SafeDocs research is intended to result in novel parser methodologies to ensure security in digital content.

PDF Association news

June 2019 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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The US Access Board who sets policy for US federal agencies and contractor’s deliverables has agreed to require PDF/UA.

Article

June 2019 by PDF Association staff
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We interviewed Kenny Swope about his keynote session at the Electronic Document Conference in Seattle, and asked him some questions … Read more

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June 2019 by PDF Association staff
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Accessible PDF documents are getting much more imported these days, not only forced by legal regulations. The PDF Association is … Read more

PDF Association news

June 2019 by PDF Association staff
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As part of the 2019 Electronic Document Conference, the PDF Association has published an industry showcase entitled “PDF Products & … Read more

PDF Association news

May 2019 by Duff Johnson
Duff Johnson
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How do you redact content in HTML? The format doesn’t really include that concept. In both principle and practice, committing … Read more

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May 2019 by PDF Association staff
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We’ve made a significant change to members’ news handling on pdfa.org, and we believe members will appreciate the results! Members’ … Read more

PDF Association news

May 2019 by Dr. Tamir Hassan
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PDF is the most common file format on the Web after HTML, and everyone in the Document Engineering community without … Read more

PDF Association news

May 2019 by Dietrich von Seggern (callas software GmbH)
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The question of data exchange between print data creators and processors has been answered with PDF for the entire graphic … Read more

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